RSL pokie punters rewarded for gambling up to $300,000 a year

By Heath Aston, political correspondent

One of the largest RSL clubs in NSW is under fire for offering loyalty incentives to patrons who gamble up to $300,000 a year on its poker machines.

Anti-pokie campaigners Tim Costello and independent federal senator Nick Xenophon have described the "Ambassador Rewards" scheme at Dee Why RSL as "immoral" and "predatory and parasitic".

The Ambassador's red carpet entrance into the gaming room.

Punters who attain "diamond" status at the northern beaches club are being offered reserved parking, a red carpet into the gaming area from the car park, 80 per cent discounts on food and drinks and a "personalised hosting" service.

A diamond member must accrue 30,000 status points every six months, which, according to terms and conditions, translates to $150,000 in gaming turnover.

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Pokie machines inside Dee Why RSL.

A "platinum-plus" player must turn over $75,000 in the same period, or $150,000 a year.

Members at Dee Why RSL told Fairfax Media they are concerned the 80-year-old club was being transformed into "Star City on the northern beaches".

Dee Why RSL's gaming and IT manager, Arran Hodkinson, was recruited from the Star where he was casino business manager.

Chief executive at Dee Why, Grant Easterby, told Fairfax Media it was not up to the club to tell people how much money they could spend on pokies but said the club offered an on-site chaplain and a "robust" system of care, including a self-exclusion program for at-risk punters.

Dee Why RSL's gaming and IT manager Arran Hodkinson, who previously worked at the Star casino.

"Playing poker machines is a legitimate entertainment pursuit. For those people it causes an issue for we look after them but it is not our job to judge what a consumer pays for a product. If they enjoy it and they can afford it, that's their choice," he said.

Mr Easterby, who said most large clubs had similar offers, insisted Ambassador Rewards was a "loyalty program not an incentive" and could be compared to the loyalty schemes of airlines and department stores.

Mr Easterby said a $300,000 gaming turnover actually reflected a "spend" or outlay of about 8 per cent of that – or $24,000 a year for a diamond member.

According to its 2016 Annual Report, Dee Why RSL had income from poker machines of $42.5 million – up $4.5 million on the previous year. It gave $1.6 million to local charities and sporting groups.

A number of experts and gambling campaigners called on the NSW government to step in to eradicate what they say are inducements to gamble.

Charles Livingstone, a senior lecturer at Monash University and expert on the social effects of poker machine addiction, called the reward program "appalling but probably not surprising".

"This is incredibly cynical, exploitative and unconscionable behaviour by this RSL that should not be allowed by the authorities. It is another symptom of a gambling culture that is out of control and the importation of casino culture into club land."

He said loyalty schemes were aimed at "getting under the skin of people who are already experiencing problems" with gambling, and losses were generally in excess of 15 per cent of outlay and often much worse.

"We are talking about people who are probably bankrupting themselves to achieve platinum status. We are talking about people who are burning through life savings and or redundancy cheques and or inheritances – even their own homes," he said.

Mr Livingstone said loyalty schemes meant gambling establishments had detailed data on how much people were gambling and should be forced to act when someone was in over their heads.

"But more often places like the casinos in Melbourne and Sydney will send out a limo to make sure they keep coming back," he said.

Senator Xenophon said: "These sort of inducements are obscene, predatory and parasitic. It makes a mockery of clubs being all about the community. This will rip lives apart.

"If the regulator fails to act on this it shows what a joke the system is in NSW."

Mr Costello said pokies were as addictive as ice and cocaine and described Dee Why's loyalty scheme was "completely and utterly immoral".

Details of the loyalty program emerged as research revealed Australians are by far the biggest losers on gambling, with pokie punters dropping an estimated $12 billion a year.

Dee Why RSL member Phil Gatenby has complained about the Ambassador Rewards program to the Warringah Council and Liquor & Gaming NSW which oversees punting in clubs.

He asked where it was in the council's parking controls that allows for restricted parking based on how much someone gambles on poker machines.

Both bodies declined to take any action.

Diamond and platinum-plus status can alternatively be achieved through food and beverage purchases to the same dollar value.

In a statement, Racing Minister Paul Toole indicated the government had little appetite to take on the clubs over encouragement of gambling.

"NSW clubs and hotels can offer gaming machine player reward schemes but must comply with harm minimisation laws. Liquor & Gaming NSW investigates complaints about gaming machine player reward schemes and takes compliance action where necessary," said a spokesman for Mr Toole.